My Lessons in Living in Humility
People who know me probably got a good laugh that I would write about humility because that is one thing I know little about. Pride, humility’s opposite, has been my jam my entire life. In elementary school, I believed I was smarter than my teachers and scoffed at anything they tried to teach me. And I wondered why none of them liked me! In high school, pride kept me from following the pack because I thought I knew better.(So in this case it was handy.) However, in college, pride made me get married when I was warned not to do so. Needless to say, this prideful endeavor ended painfully. Later, in one of my first jobs, pride made me lose that job because I thought I was the only one who noticed that my boss was worthless and didn’t mind telling my coworkers about it. Pride always thinks it is the smartest one in the room.
You can’t believe how much it hurt me to type that introductory paragraph. That is my pride rearing its ugly head. So because the first step to getting better is to admit you have a problem, I suppose I am in the process of learning humility. And in case you may have a bit of a pride issue too, I am going to reveal a couple of life-lessons in my baby steps of this recovery process.
Humility always sounded so feeble and in no way was it appealing to me. You don’t have to look long on social media to see a meme declaring the cool factor of being a sassy, independent, scrappy, don’t-mess-with-me kind of person. Who would want to be humble when you can be such a cool bad-ass? I gravitate toward these messages of self reliance. I love to read a book or watch a movie about an aggressive, combative, fierce hero. This is our culture. This is pride. How can I possibly give up this attitude for humility? And why would I want to?
My first ‘a-ha’ moment of seeing the truth about pride came from a poem written by Beth Moore about pride. I keep a copy and read it often to remind me of why I need to give up my arrogant attitude.
My Name is Pride
by Beth Moore
My name is Pride! I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny…because you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment…because you “deserve better than this.”
I cheat you of knowledge… because you already know it all.
I cheat you of healing…because you’re too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness…because you refuse to admit when you’re wrong.
I cheat you of vision…because you’d rather look in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship…because nobody’s going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love…because real romance demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven…because you refuse to wash another’s feet on Earth.
I cheat you of God’s glory…because I convince you to seek your own.
My name is Pride. I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I’m always looking out for you.
Untrue.
I’m looking to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don’t worry…
If you stick with me,
You’ll never know.
Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.
C.S. Lewis
Pride has been said to be the root of all sin and I do believe that to be true. Pride is a liar and a cheat. It cheated me out of true friendship repeatedly by not allowing me to come down off of my pedestal.
So do I need to be a wimp to give up my pride and become humble? Jesus modeled humility all the way to the cross yet he was far from milquetoast wimpy. He was a warrior! He was always about his Father’s business and nothing got in the way of that. Not his parents and not the rules of the Pharisees. He defied the rules of polite society and kept company with the lost and rejected.
In my mind, Jesus words from the cross were not expressed in defeat. I think Jesus expressed “It is finished” triumphantly! I picture those final words of Jesus voiced more like when Braveheart voiced “Freedom!” at the end of that movie. Jesus life is our model for humility. He didn’t care what people thought. He only cared what the Heavenly Father thought. He wasn’t in it for himself. He was in it to save us. And that is an important note about humility. It starts with our focus on something bigger, something outside of ourselves. It gives up self-promotion and promotes the bigger cause tirelessly.
Micah 6:8 NIV He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
So after my confession of pride, I next need to focus on something outside of myself, something worthy of my sacrifice. I can’t think of anything more worthy than the God of the universe, the Creator, my Savior, the beginning and the end. And so I begin this two-steps-forward, one-step-back process of fixing my eyes on Him. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will learn to walk humbly with my God. Like the picture of the dog happily riding in a car, I am just along for the ride.